Chapter 15: "Will I be able to return to the abyss after I jump?"

Chapter 5

Three hours ago.

Somewhere in the rainforest area.

The jungle rustled softly, and Duan Hua emerged from the darkness.

Shi Rui lifted his head and looked in the direction from which the voice had come.

When he saw that it was Duan Hua, a look of heavenly surprise appeared on his face, "You're back so soon? Is the problem solved?"

"Brother he accepted your apology?"

Duan Hua's expression was strange and his vision fluttered, "Right."

He subconsciously reached for his sleeve-covered wrist, but the movement lurched and he forced himself to stop.

The touch of the other party's fingers seemed to remain on that piece of skin - very cold, much lower than an ordinary person's body temperature, as if some kind of cold and soft cold-blooded animal, silently wrapping around, although it was only a passing glance, but the memory of that touch seemed to have been branded into the muscle, bone and blood as if it was a long time to remove.

A strange itch spread from that small patch of skin, making him want to scratch uncontrollably.

The expression on Shi Rui's face remained perfect:

"It's been hard work, take a break."

Immediately afterward, without warning--

Mutations happen.

Darkness engulfs the skies and GPS and communication systems are simultaneously paralyzed.

From the depths of the dark jungle came the manic howls and footsteps of demons that seemed to be running without purpose.

Duan Hua gazed up in alarm at the inky black, lightless sky overhead, "What, what's going on here?"

As a person with a ghost in his heart, even though there was no evidence, he still subconsciously connected the current abnormality with his own actions just now, and the blood drained from his face.

Difficult, isn't it ......

Shi Rui was similarly flustered and barely managed to tense his face.

He looked down and checked the wristwatch on his hand, quickly recovering from his brief moment of panic.

The situation at hand was more like a breakdown of the system than the Academy catching on to their little maneuver.

Immediately after that, he realized that the communications were down, which likewise meant that the surveillance was out of order - now, even if something happened to Shi An during the exam, no one would be able to connect it to himself.

It's almost as if the heavens are on their side!

Shi Rui calmed down.

He said, "This is supposed to be a problem with the school's system, so don't be alarmed, at best it's just a communication and monitoring disconnect, and it should be restored after a while."

At that moment, one of the freshmen spoke up:

"This doesn't seem to be a normal system failure, can't you guys notice that the color of the sky has become a bit scary ...... plus the school's system is built with pure magic, the chances of something going wrong are very small ...... Moreover, the reaction of the magical creatures seems to be also be a little bit not quite right."

"So, what then?" The others asked in panic.

"Either stay put and wait for help or go to the emergency exit in the center of the rainforest area, those are the only two options."

Duan Hua said almost impatiently:

"I think we should take the initiative to look for an emergency exit! After all, who knows how long it will take for help to come, staying here is just too unsafe, not to mention, we originally came from the center area of the rainforest, and we left traces all along the way, so it shouldn't be too hard to find our way back."

It's too close to Shi An.

As the last person to see Shi An, Duan Hua would be easily suspected if anything happened to the other party.

More importantly ......

He knew exactly what was going to happen to Shi An, so he didn't want to be around when his opponent had an "accident".

Shi Rui spoke up appropriately and concurred, "I think Duan Hua is right, this is the best way now."

Since Shi Rui had said so, the others naturally had no problem with it.

So the group set off again, heading back the way they came.

Duan Hua walks at the end of the line without saying a word.

His face was pale, his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, and his left hand unconsciously pressed his right wrist, looking extraordinarily mentally unsettled.

I don't know when the vague itch became progressively more unbearable.

It was as if there were countless tiny worms wriggling under his skin, gnawing at his flesh and blood little by little, and a fiery burning sensation spread from that skin.

Duan Hua lifted his sleeve and looked toward his wrist.

In the blurred light, the skin was vaguely visible as smooth and flat, not half as changed as it was in memory.

Is ...... an illusion?

Duan Hua thought suspiciously.

The passage of time in the dark jungle becomes hard to gauge.

The small group moved cautiously forward, feeling their way a little, searching for the path from which they had come.

During that time, they had also encountered a few sporadic demons head-on.

The crowd was surprised to find that after the mutation, the demons seemed to have become sharper and more restless, and more hostile, and low-level demons that would normally have been very easy to kill required the cooperation of several people to barely subdue them at this point in time.

"Boom!"

Another demon fell heavily.

After the battle was over, several members of the team involved in the battle turned their heads, looking blankly and suspiciously at Duan Hua, who was not far away.

--He just had too many turnovers today.

However, since Duan Hua was usually arrogant and overbearing, people did not dare to say anything for a while.

Only Shi Rui stepped forward to break the ice:

"Duan Hua, what's wrong with you? Where are you uncomfortable?"

Duan Hua smiled extremely grudgingly, and the sword that was originally habitually held in his right hand was switched to his left hand at some point.

He stiffly explained, "Today, today is not in good shape ......"

In fact, in the cuffs that hung down his side, he had begun to tremble violently and uncontrollably from arm to hand.

As the number of times Duan Hua released his magic increased, the burning sensation became stronger.

It potentially burned deep under his skin, starting at the root of his bones, gnawing and chewing on his muscles little by little, as if it were going to set him on fire whole, starting at his wrists.

He was as panicked as an ant in a hot pan.

But Duan Hua did not want to show his cowardice and could only grit his teeth.

Is it Shi An?

No, it's impossible ...... How could he have found out in such a short time? And even if he found out what could he do?

That punk, he even needs to cheat on his exams! How could he do such a thing?

While he was rambling, a strange sound came from the darkness in the distance.

The crowd froze and looked in the direction the voice came from.

It seemed to be some kind of rumble.

At first it was just a vague vibration.

But it took almost only a few dozen seconds for it to turn into some kind of deafening, raging sound.

It seemed to emanate from the heart of the earth, or as if it were the sound of a thousand horses marching.

The earth seemed to be trembling, the trees around them trembled under the strong pressure, and the leaves made a rustling sound, and that terrible sound approached from all directions, as if it was able to swallow them up.

Under that terrifying sound pressure, the crowd froze in place, almost forgetting to move.

I don't know who shouted--

"Climb up the tree!"

They then woke up as if from a dream, and scrambled up the tree on their hands and knees.

Hugging the trunk, the freshmen looked down.

In such a dim environment, they could hardly see anything but countless flickering points of light.

Blue, yellow, a little red.

The collar that symbolized the difficulty of the demons emitted a glittering shimmer in the darkness, illuminating the tidal wave of demonic figures, dust and smoke rolling in as if dark ocean waves roaring off into the distance.

Trees are a minimal deterrent for demons.

But surprisingly, they didn't stop at all, as if they didn't notice the humans sprawled on the trees at all, but instead ran towards a certain target in an extremely unified manner.

The students twisted their heads dumbfounded and looked in the direction where the tide of demons was rushing.

There appears to be ......

East.

*

Within the scorched earth area.

The heavens and the earth shook, everything was silent, and endless darkness surged in as if it were ink pouring down, coming in torrents.

In the clearing at the far end stood two humans.

Compared to the huge number of demons in front of them, their figures looked so small and fragile, as if they would be swallowed up in the next second.

The demon at the forefront was close at hand.

This is really over.

Lin Yanming closed his eyes in despair and waited for the fate of certain death.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

......

One minute.

Nothing happened.

--Wait, what's going on?

Lin Yanming's eyes opened in shock.

By the faint light of the backup power supply, he regretted beyond measure his decision to open his eyes, and it took almost a lifetime of courage not to pass out again.

It's too close, it's just too close.

Those pairs of ferocious eyes with the desire to kill looked over from a few meters away from each other, and between them was a distance so close that he could smell the fishy odor spraying out of the bloody mouths.

Lin Yanming swore he'd never seen anything like it, not even in his worst nightmares.

But ...... doesn't know why.

It had been such a long time, and the group of raging, murderous demons still hadn't launched any attacks.

It was as if there was an invisible barrier between them, blocking each other's movements.

The demonic creature manically and furiously smashed the ground with its front feet, but as if it was concerned about something, it could only let out a reluctant and angry hiss.

Lin Yanming stared blankly at the demonic creature not far away.

I don't know if it was since the illusion, he seemed to see in the eyes of those demons ......

Fear?

Suddenly, Lin Yanming felt a sharp pain in his wrist.

He let out an "ouch" and subconsciously looked down.

Only to see a black beetle the size of a fingernail cap crawling up his hand at some point, it was topped with a grotesque human face, its poisonous fangs sunk deep into the skin of his hand, and was currently trying its best to gnaw on him while flashing him a twisted and ugly smile.

"......"

Lin Yanming rolled his eyes and fainted.

Demon Worm: "??"

Wait, did my venom kick in that fast?

Shi An: "Well done."

He held up a thumbs up, "Managed to scare him unconscious!"

Magic Worm: "......"

Unwilling to accept the fact that it was it that had scandalized the other, it cried out in exasperation, "It's Poison Fainting's! Poisoned fainting!"

Shi An readily accepts good advice, "Okay, poison dusk."

Magic Worm: "...... Could you be any more perfunctory?"

Shi An interrupts it mercilessly, "Alright, alright, don't waste time, move him to the emergency exit, it shouldn't be far anyway."

The demonic worm sighed and shook its wings, countless smaller black beetles burrowed out from under its wings and began to grow the moment they hit the ground, not stopping until they were the size of a fist.

As if they were conscious, they all crawled under Lin Yanming's body, lifting the unconscious human and carrying him over to the far side.

Shi An withdrew his gaze as he watched Lin Yanming being transported toward the exit.

He examined the demon before him curiously, then slowly, tentatively took a step forward.

A restlessness arose from the group of demons, and wild roars rose and fell.

However, the line that was clearly separated between the demon and Shi An was instantly dented inward in an extremely distinct manner.

Shi An takes a step to the left and the demons take a step back to the right.

He moved one step backward, and the opposite side took another step forward to catch up.

It's almost like a comical cotillion.

Shi An blinks and lifts her foot again.

--Don't know why, but it always felt that the reactions of these demons were somewhat familiar.

Oh yeah oh, it seems to be exactly the same as those magic bugs he encountered in the practice test ...... before?

The Demon Worm took a deep breath, "Have you had enough fun yet?!"

"Not yet eh." Shi An's eyes light up.

The corner of the Demon Worm's mouth twitched, "My lord, need I remind you that the Abyss lasts for a limited time."

Shi An: "......"

He looked at the swarm of demons in front of him, and then craned his head to look at the abyss that was already not far away from him.

After a long hesitation, he sighed sadly and relented in his desire to continue playing:

"Okay."

But before the magic worm could breathe a sigh of relief, he only heard the other party bargaining:

"But there should at least be time for me to burn a few for fun!"

"......" Magic Worm: "...... you burn."

"Yay!" Shi An squinted and smiled.

A cluster of crimson flames rose from his fingertips, fluttering out of his hand as if it were a ghost fire that could be instantly blown out with a single breath, but the massive energy contained within was terrifyingly suffocating.

The demons retreated away from the flames like dominoes, but there were too many of them, and after crowding into a pile there was almost no escape.

The moment the flames were next to them, the end was sealed.

The blazing embers wrapped around as if they had a consciousness of their own, chewing and devouring the unfortunate chosen prey, using their flesh and blood bodies as fuel to grow unchecked in the darkness.

Shi An flicked her fingertips.

The flames exploded, mercilessly reducing its prey to blackened charcoal amidst its miserable hissing.

The blazing fire was reflected in the teenager's dark and deep pupils, being stretched into a golden-red stripe, with a cruel and naïve treacherous beauty.

"It seems that the demons that were alienated by the Abyss aren't completely useless."

Shi An licked her lips unreservedly and summarized.

The Demon Worm shivered for no reason.

I'm sorry you are really scary.

Shi An specializes in catching and burning magical creatures wearing red and blue collars.

It was important to know that his Dragon Flame was precious and magic-intensive, and it wasn't worth wasting it on a demonic creature that was too weak.

So after playing around, there weren't many demons with outstanding strength left.

Shi An withdrew her gaze with a sigh of pleasure, "This Ability Academy has such a poor eye, and not many of the magical creatures it captures are resistant to being burned."

Devil Worm crumbles.

Big brother! How many demons in this world can withstand your burning ah?

Shi An has finally had enough.

He reached down and scooped up the Demon Worm from the ground and said with gusto, "Let's go! Go to the abyss!"

There should be quite a few burn resistant ones there!

The Demon Worm clutched Shi An's fingers with its six legs and peered back through the other's fingers.

The remaining demons were still following Shi An's back.

They each look like they are struggling extraordinarily.

The human in front of them reeked with a frenzied odor that whetted their appetites, fresh and warm blood food tickling their bellies, but they could just as well sense the unmistakable aura of danger on the other side - instincts screamed frantically at both extremes, talking about running and chasing at the same time.

Looking at the group of demons that followed again, the Demon Worm had a lustful look on his face:

"What about ...... the rest of those?"

Shi An didn't care, "Just follow, they can still eat me?"

Magic Worm: "......"

You make a good fucking point.

Soon Shi An came to the edge of the abyss.

An extremely deep and dark crevice cracked open without warning in the endless scorched plain before them, with a steep, straight edge as if a scar had been cleaved in the ground with a massive sword, and a lightless, soundless darkness below, from which a grayish-white mist slowly escaped, releasing a deadly toxin outward.

Shi An looks downward and asks curiously, "Will I be able to return to the Abyss after I jump?"

Demon Worm: "That's not how the Abyssal Rift works."

It pointed to the edge of the abyss, "Do you see there? Isn't the border a little blurry?"

Shi An winks, "Yeah eh."

It's like two overlapping pieces of paper with two different edges.

"In fact, this is the process of the expansion of the abyssal rift la, its spatial significance is slowly reuniting with the ground, before this process is completed, the space within this rift neither belongs to the abyss nor to the ground, it is more like ...... an intermediate zone." The Demon Worm thought for a moment and explained in the simplest and most understandable way.

"But then, when it's fully reunited, it will no longer be a rift, it will be a passage between the abyss and the ground."

"So it is." Shi An was somewhat surprised.

He thought about it, a little frustrated, "Then won't I be unable to return to the Abyss for a while yet?"

In Shi An's time, the Abyss and the Ground were a complete whole, and if one was strong enough, one could travel between the two areas at will, but now, not only are the Abyss and the Ground cut into two areas that must be connected by a passageway in order to be accessed, but one has lost the power that one once had-

As an abyssal dragon, he couldn't even go back to the abyss!

Abominable!

The Demon Worm put a thin leg on Shi An's shoulder, "My lord, don't worry, when you regain your strength, you will definitely be able to just rip open a gap in the abyss and kill all the humans who want to come and stop it, and after it spreads out into a passageway, you will be able to go back to the abyss!"

Shi An : "You're right!"

--The most important thing now is to regain strength!

Though not quite in the middle of the crevice just yet, just by standing at the edge for a short while Shi An already felt the familiar power begin to slowly fill up.

Shi An's confidence is high.

If we continue at this rate, we should be able to go back to the Abyss to find the treasure soon!

The thought of the bright flashes piling up in his cave made him feel so distraught that he couldn't wait to revert back to his original form and rejoin the abyss - you guys have to be around after all these years!

While Shi An was lost in thought, the Demon Worm suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Not far away, at the edge of the cliff, there seemed to be some unusual marks.

After carefully distinguishing it, it froze slightly and immediately realized what it had found - it was clearly a magical trace left by a human!

Moreover, the opponent's magic power was so powerful that it was even able to tear open the corner where the abyss and the ground overlapped.

I'm afraid the only human being who can do this is ......

Oops! Mu Hang has arrived! And it's probably already in the cracks!

The Demon Worm was creeped out.

It suddenly remembered that it hadn't gotten around to telling Shi An Mu Hang the true identity of the Dragon Slayer!

The Devil Worm opened his mouth and was about to speak out as a reminder.

But the next second, a sense of weightlessness hit without warning.

The wind was howling and the sky was spinning.

--It took the Worm two seconds to realize what Shi An had done.

...... This ancestor actually fucking jumped straight down!

Deep in the cracks.

Mu Hang flicked to the dark droplets of blood on his silver sword, and behind him, the body of yet another Abyssal species fell with a thud.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear something and frowned slightly, looking upwards.

...... Is anyone screaming?